Chaplin man arrested in fatal boating accident

A Chaplin man was arrested Friday on multiple charges stemming from a fatal boating accident in December, Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Environmental Conservation (EnCon) Police said in a news release.

A Chaplin man was arrested Friday on multiple charges stemming from a fatal boating accident in December, Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Environmental Conservation (EnCon) Police said in a news release.

Burt W. Hamilton, 54, of 153 Palmer Road, Chaplin was charged in connection to a December 7, 2012 fatal boating accident on the Housatonic River in Shelton. Hamilton faces charges of Reckless Boating in the First Degree, Failure to Maintain Proper Lookout and Speed in Excess of Slow-No-Wake Zone, police said.

In the accident, Hamilton’s boat collided with a dock piling while he was trying to return the boat to Sunnyside Boat Ramp in Shelton, said police. During the accident, a passenger on Hamilton’s boat, Donald Bessette, also of Chaplin, fell overboard and subsequently drowned.

Police say the investigation conducted by EnCon Police’s Boating Accident Reconstruction Unit determined that Bessette was allegedly ejected from the boat when it collided with the dock piling.